The King Returns
by Caroline L'Amoure
Summary: Takes place after LK2. Kovu finds a strange lion wandering the outlands, the scarred golden lion uneasy about returning to the pridelands. Little does Kovu know that the lion is Simba's long lost son, Kopa. What will this mean for the pridelands? Kopa has wandered the Savanna for years... is he finally going to settle down? What will happen when he meets Vitani again? KopaxVitani
1. The Scarred Lion

**Welcome to my first Lion King fanfiction! I've been wanting to write this for a long time and I'm finally getting around to making it :P This story takes place after Lion King 2**

Kovu trotted across the tall grass of the pridelands, his green eyes scanning the horizon for danger as he watched over the hunt below. Nala and Kiara chased after antelope with the other lionesses, a smile coming over Kovu's face when Kiara successfully knocked the antelope down as the other lionesses rushed over to take it down. She had gotten much better at hunting after the lessons he had given her. He looked over to the west, the Outlands now empty of the lions since the fight when Zira had tried to take over the Pridelands. Except... He squinted his eyes to see better, spotting a long figure in the distance. It looked like a lion. Who could it possibly be? The former outlanders were hunting with the other prideland lionesses...

"Do you see anything?" Simba walked over, noticing Kovu's intense stare into the distance.

"I think so..." Kovu muttered thoughtfully. He glanced back toward Simba, the older lion looking in the same direction and let out a small grunt of confusion as he also saw the lion.

"How about you go see who it is. If it is an outlander, invite them to the pridelands if they'll be peaceful. I don't want rogues running around while the lionesses are out on the hunt. Who knows who they could be." Simba looked back toward Kovu.

Kovu smiled brightly at the idea of taking on such a responsibility as representing the pridelands to a stranger. Simba had been teaching him the ways of being a king...though the thought of himself as a king was still foreign. "I'll check it out. I should be back by sundown." He said, turning and trotting into the direction of the stranger.

"I'll make sure we save you some dinner." Simba shouted after him, turning his attention back toward the hunt in case he was needed. 

Kovu looked around the empty Outlands as he walked toward the area he had last seen the stranger, wondering how the former pride had ever survived in such a desolate place. All the termite hills had repaired themselves from constant predation and now stood tall and looming around him.

"I still don't understand why we have to be here. This is dangerous." He heard a deep voice grumble in frustration nearby.

"I told you, the root from the plants that grow here are good for your eye. It will help it not hurt as badly." A female voice replied, the rasp to the voice strange. It didn't sound like a lion talking. Was that a hyena?

"Besides, we haven't seen an Outlander yet. They're probably not around here. If they are, we'll leave." Another male voice replied, this one sounding higher but sleek.

A very lion-like grumble sounded, showing the first male's opinion of the area. Obviously they weren't an Outlander, otherwise they would know why the area was empty.

Kovu walked closer, rounding around a large termite mound to see a large golden lion, a cheetah and a hyena. The hyena was tugging at a very large root, dragging as much of it from the ground as she could as the cheetah watched from on top of a nearby rock. The lion was covered in large slashing scars, far too large for them to be recent. It was almost like he had gotten them as a cub and they had grown with him.

"Hello." Kovu said loudly enough for them to all hear him. The cheetah merely looked in his direction, but the hyena yelped in panic and hid behind the lion, who turned to him with a low growl, his fangs bared. Kovu backed up a step in shock, the much larger lion intimidating in his appearance. One of his eyes was slashed, the eye itself white with blindness. The good eye that looked toward him was filled with a mixture of fear and rage.

"I'm not here to harm you. I was just wondering who you were." Kovu said, standing his ground and taking a step forward again.

The lion stopped growling in surprise, looking at the cheetah, who merely nodded.  
"We're just passing through." The cheetah said casually from on top of his rock. His muzzle was white with age, the yellow eyes cast in Kovu's direction wise with experience.

"Well if you need rest, you may come to the pridelands with me. I leave it up to you." Kovu nodded.

"T-the pridelands?" The lion said with wide eyes. "We're close?"

The cheetah gave the strange lion a curious look. "It's been a long time... but isn't that where you said you were from? Or are my old ears remembering things they shouldn't?"

The lion nodded, passing by the hyena who still quivered with fear behind him. He glanced at Kovu and walked up the ridge that led to the river, standing still in shock at the sight of pride rock. Kovu walked over to him curiously, looking in that direction as well, but not knowing who the lion was.

"What did you say your name was?" Kovu asked, not remembering a lion that looked like him in the pride. Not even visitors from the other prides around the pridelands had mentioned him.

"My name's Kopa." The lion glanced at him, as if expecting a reaction.

Kovu simply nodded in acknowledgement. "My name is Kovu. If you want to come with me, I can bring you to meed the pride."

"R-right." Kopa said, suddenly sounding nervous. "Who's the ruler of the pride again?"

"Simba." Kovu said, looking at him with interest at the question. "Why, do you know him?"

Kopa nodded let out an anxious chuckle and took a step away, the large scarred lion suddenly looking very fearful. "I'm not sure this is such a good idea after all."

"You should at least let them know you're alive." The cheetah walked over, sitting next to Kopa on the lion's blind side.

"Besides, you could see your sister." The hyena said, still sitting a distance back away from Kovu. "You said you missed her."

"I do." Kopa lowered his head in sadness, looking back toward priderock forelornely. "Alright. Let's... let's go."  
The cheetah set a paw on Kopa's shoulder in encouragement as Kovu took that as a signal to start walking toward priderock, Kopa following after him uneasily.


	2. Family Reunion

**For those of you who like to know this type of thing, Haraka means haste/fast in swahili, and Janja means crafty or sly.**

Kovu brought Kopa, the cheetah and the hyena over to the lion pride as they settled at the bottom of pride rock, a half of antelope waiting for him and the visitors. He saw one of the lionesses sniff the air and let out a growl, looking in their direction but tilting her head in confusion at the sight of the strange group he led. Yes... he thought it was odd a hyena would work with a cheetah and a lion too... but stranger friends had been seen. His own king was best friends with a meerkat and a warthog, and still walked through the savanah laughing with them (and occasionally eating bugs...)

"Kovu!" Kiara ran over to him, nuzzling him in greeting before looking at the visitors behind him. Kopa had stopped a fair distance back, as if uneasy about approaching the large group. The lion's good eye was darting back and forth among the Outlander lionesses, as if looking for someone.

"Who's our visitor, then?" Kiara smiled at the strange lion, unable to help but glance at the strange scars that arched across his face, neck and side. Even part of his mane was scraggly and missing from the ragged claw marks that marred his coat.

"His name's Kopa." Kovu said, startled when Kiara froze in place and looked back at the lion that stood before her.

"W-what?" Kiara whispered in shock as Kopa turned his gaze toward her. His ears flipped back uneasily as she strode over to him, staring at him closely. She looked into his one good eye, blue and vibrant as it stared back at her intently. "It is you. How?"

Kopa opened his mouth to respond, but found no words were able to come out. He looked back desperately at the cheetah, who took it as his que to come forward.

"I can explain that." The elder cheetah's tail swished behind him as the lioness glanced down at the smaller cat curiously. "My name is Haraka. I grew up far from here, but wandered into this territory while the animals were sick and hungry from Scar's reign, finding it was easy hunting. Not long after I arrived, I found a hyena trying to find help. It was a curious thing, seeing a hyena running and calling for help." He glanced back at their hyena companion, who shied behind him at the attention. "She said she had found a small cub who was badly wounded.

She didn't know much about lions non the less how to take care of a wounded cub. I followed her and brought little Kopa out of the river, cleaning him as best I could and started keeping watch over him. We took turns for quite a while, not knowing if he would wake up, but I hunted for enough meat for him to eat in case he did. One day... he woke up.

He would not talk for many days, just eating and sleeping as his wounds slowly started healing. It was then that we saw his eye was clouding over with blindness. It had been lost- but he was fortunate to be alive." The cheetah shrugged. "After that I thought it my duty to take care of him. I taught him how to stalk close enough so he wouldn't need to run after prey with his poor eyesight. Janja taught him to scavenge when he could so he could live if something happened to either of us. He grew up into a fine, strong lion and saved us many times from stronger predators who hoped to take down an old cheetah or a small hyena for prey." Haraka set a paw on Kopa's shoulder. "We look out for each other."

Kopa looked back to his friend and smiled warmly, then turned her attention back to Kiara. "I'm sorry I didn't come back... I didn't know where I even was. I didn't know which way the pridelands were and... I didn't know if _she_ would be here waiting for me." Kopa shuddered in a remnant of the fear that had coursed through him as a cub at the thought of his would-be murderer.

Kiara smiled and walked over to him, nuzzling the larger lion affectionately, ignoring the shocked stance the lion took at the touch. "I'm glad you're home."

"W-who did you say you were again?" Kopa stuttered, not used to being close to another lion.

"Kiara." She smiled as Kopa's eye widened in shock.

"Kiara?" He looked her over in surprise and grinned a large toothy smile. "You've grown up!"

"That tends to happen, brother." She laughed and bopped against his nose with her paw like she used to when they were cubs. She had been a year younger than him... but she still had vague memories of her time with him. "We should bring you to meet mother and father. They'll want to know you're alive."

Kovu had blinked in shock at the mention of Kopa's relation to his mate, now shaking out of his thoughts. "Right- I'll take you up to Simba." He said, brushing against Kiara as he walked by, smiling back at her as he walked past.

Kopa gave them a curious look at the touch, then grinned to himself that his sister had found a mate. A lot must have happened since he had been gone. He took one last glance with his good eye toward the mixture of outlander and prideland lionesses and still had a twinge of confusion at the sight. A lot must have happened...

"Simba!" Kovu called out toward the den at the top of pride rock, looking in to see Simba napping after a long hot day of hunting in the sun. The lion woke with a growl of grumbles, his thick auburn mane shaking out as he stood.  
"Did you find out who the strange lion was?" Simba said around a long yawn that ended with a short roar, walking out and stopping with surprise at the sight of the strange lion on top of pride rock with Kovu. Usually visitors weren't allowed so close to the den without Simba knowing who they were.

"You'll want to talk to him." Kovu motioned a paw toward Kopa, letting the lion come forward uneasily. He stopped in front of simba, staring in shock at the sight of his father... and that they were the same height. Actually, he was a bit taller than Simba, but only by a bit. The real difference was in the build between them. Simba may be strong for a lion, but it was obvious that Kopa was more muscular in build.

Simba looked at the strange lion for a moment, glancing at his scars before blinking in confusion that they looked... strangely familiar. He circled around Kopa, examining the large jagged scars in relation to his body and finally came back to his front, his eyes widened in shock. "Kopa." He said in a whisper, sitting down in his surprise.

"H-hey, dad." Kopa said uneasily, not really knowing what else to say.

"How is this possible?" Simba said, barely above a whisper. "I saw Zira kill you. I held you in my paws myself... I would never have left if I had known you were alive."

Kopa looked down sadly, remembering what it was like to wake up alone, so far from his home. He had wandered a long way off to meet with Vitani... far from the borders of the pridelands, and he had paid the price. "I know you wouldn't. To be honest I had gotten lost. When Janja and Haraka finally woke me up, I wasn't sure what I should do. I didn't know my way back to the pridelands, and neither of them had been there. I didn't want to go near the Outlanders, I knew Zira would kill me if she saw me again. Besides." Kopa smiled a sachrine sad grin toward the ground. "How can a scarred lion like me be who I once was?"

"The scars don't matter Kopa, you're still my son." Simba walked up to him and laid a paw around his shoulder in an embrace, letting out a deep chuckle at how tall his son was. "You turned out more like my father than I did. Look at you." Simba stepped back again and gave Kopa a good look up and down. "You got Nala's coloring, but my father's strength."

"Yours too." Kopa pointed a paw at him. "Remember you grew up outside the pridelands too."

Simba grinned at that. "That's right, I did. Now where are these two that rescued you? I'd like to thank them."

Kopa glanced down the side of pride rock at Haraka and Janja waiting patiently for him to return, the cheetah sitting casually, cleaning a paw. Janja on the other hand, was sitting nearly a dozen feet further back. "They're down there with the lionesses."

"Come on- you must be hungry. You and your friends can eat your fill and we'll discuss what happened afterward." Simba looked over his shoulder at Kovu, motioning his head so the darker lion could come too. Kovu smiled and trotted after the bigger lions as they walked down the rock to their meal.


	3. What did I miss?

Kopa sighed with his belly full for the first time in a long while. He laid down on the ground, his paw stratching at his eye as dust from the ground bothered it. Agh, he had forgotten to grab that root Janja had been digging up... he would have to go back for it later.

"So Kopa." Nala smiled over to her son after Simba had told her what happened. "Tell us how you came here."

Kopa sighed and sat up, rubbing his blind eye one last time before beginning. "It started just after Zira had tried to kill me." Kopa said sadly. "She threw me into the river after you left, probably figuring me for dead as well. I wasn't though, and when I washed up on a shoreline, Janja found me." He scooped up the hyena in his arm, teasingly rubbing her black tuft of hair on her head as she squeaked in surprise. She backed away again, smoothing her hair down and darted her eyes in a panic as the lions looked at her curiously.

"I had nothing to do with Scar's reign, I swear." She held up her paws defensively. "Some of us didn't think the outcome would be as good as it sounded, you know. We didn't all join him. Despite my mother doing her best to convince me." She ended with a low growl of remnant anger. "I found Kopa on the side of the river as I was scavenging near the old elephant graveyard. All the other hyenas had left, and there wasn't much left... but I was desperate myself. I was never much of a fighter, but I had learned a lot from our old Matriarch before my mother killed her."

"Who was your mother?" Simba asked curiously. "She was the Matriarch of the hyena clan?"

"Yes, her name was Shenzi." Janja bowed her head, a bit ashamed. She knew the name would be recognized.

"You shouldn't be ashamed of your upbringing. We've learned in this pride that not all sons or daughters follow in their parents pawprints." Simba glanced to Kovu and smiled, who nodded his head in thanks.

Janja looked up again, her ears perked up hopefully. "I'm not going to be punished for my mother's actions?"

"No." Simba shook his head. "As long as you yourself do not do anything to hurt the pridelands, you have no reason to be punished."

Janja let out a loud dog-like yip in happiness. "I had been afraid for years the pride would only see me as my mother's daughter. Thank you, Simba."

"Thank you, Janja. You saved my son's life, so I owe you my thanks. Both of you." He turned toward Haraka. "You may stay as long as you like in my kingdom."

Kopa sighed in relief that his friends were accepted. He had been a bit nervous about the fact that Janja was a hyena, and Shenzi's daughter. "So can I ask why the outlanders are with the pride?" Kopa asked, glancing at all the lionesses... but not seeing the one he had been hoping for.

Kiara chuckled. "I know it's probably a bit confusing. Not too long ago, Zira had decided to take over the pridelands..." She motioned to Kovu for him to continue.

"Zira thought it would be best to train me from a cub to be a ruthless killer." Kovu said, not liking to tell the tale of his childhood. "She wanted to take over the pridelands and avenge Scar. However, she had the idea that if I got close to Kiara, I would be able to reach Simba easier to take him out."

Kopa's eyes widened at the plan. He knew Zira was merciless, but to use her own son?

"Obviously that didn't happen. I found as time went on I-" Kopa flushed and tried to think of the best way to say how he felt.

"He found out the world wasn't like he thought it was." Kiara finished for him, setting a paw on his shoulder. "We fell in love, instead of him using me to get to daddy, he joined us against Zira. It was hard at first... he wasn't accepted because of his upbringing." Kiara sighed sadly at the memory of Kovu being banished. "But when the fight broke out, I saw that we were all the same and there was no point in fighting over past differences."

"Vitani was the first to see it that way. She turned with us against mother." Kovu nodded. "Where is she, anyway?"

"I saw her and Dotty go over by the watering hole. She has been very quiet lately." One of the outlander lionesses answered.

Kovu frowned, but nodded. He didn't know why his sister was being so sad and quiet since they had joined the prideland lionesses. Perhaps it was time he asked. He usually didn't like to talk about feelings- his mother had made him push feelings away for so long he had a hard time expressing himself.

"Is she well?" Kopa asked softly.

Simba and Kovu looked up at the question, glancing to each other. Simba smiled knowingly and nodded. "She's fine, Kopa. Perhaps later tonight when things are settled down, you can talk to her."

Kopa shifted nervously from paw to paw, but nodded. He didn't know how Vitani would take him being alive, but he wanted to see the lioness again. He hadn't seen her since they were cubs. He didn't even know what she looked like apart from those piercing blue eyes that had caught his attention as a cub. It was how they had become friends... among all the outlanders, she had been the only one with blue eyes like him. They used to joke that they were the same on the inside, though different on the outside.

Haraka smiled knowingly as well, jumping down from his perch on a rock. "If it pleases your majesty, I think I might stroll through the pridelands. I have not been here before, and I'd like to get my bearings."

Simba nodded. "Stay clear of the eastern border, the hippos do not take kindly to visitors."

"Thank you, Simba." Haraka nodded in acknowledgement before walking down the side of pride rock.

"I'm going to go find me sister." Kovu whispered to Kiara. "She's been acting strangely since she came here, I'm starting to get worried."

Kiara nodded. "Don't tell her about Kopa yet, let her know that there is food waiting for her if she wants it."

Kovu nodded and jumped off the side of priderock, starting his search for Dotty and Vitani. 


	4. Vitani's anguish

Kovu wandered near the watering hole, hearing Dotty's voice faintly.

"You have to tell me what's wrong for me to help, Vitani. I don't know why you're upset unless you tell me." The lioness sighed, starting to sound frustrated.

"It doesn't matter, it's in the past. This place reminds me too much of what happened. I can't stand it." Vitani said, her voice filled with bitterness. "I knew mother was ruthless and dangerous since I was a cub. I don't know why I followed her like I did."

"We didn't have much of a choice, Vitani." Kovu rounded the corner of a small rock outcropping, seeing Dotty and Vitani beneath it. Vitani was laying on the ground, her head laying in her paws with tears coming from her eyes, Dotty sitting beside her. They both looked up in surprise as Kovu walked forward, Vitani quickly wiping her tears away so he wouldn't see them. Dotty rolled her eyes at Vitani's show of toughness, the darker lioness with spots under her left eye sighing.

Kovu had never seen his sister cry, though for some reason he had seen her on the brink of tears until she ran after their mother had ranted about how she wanted to kill all the pridelanders and tear them apart. She had talked about the others obsessively.

Kovu walked over to his sister and sat beside her, staying silent and waiting for her to talk like he had since they were cubs. He never pressed anyone for information, just waited patiently.

"Will you say something?" Vitani yelled angrily, batting his leg so he lurched to the side from the hit.

"What?" Kovu looked at her in frustration. "What do you want me to say? I'm worried about you? You've hardly talked to anyone since we came to pride rock? You hate even looking at it?"

Dotty snorted happily. "I told you I wasn't the only one that noticed. Even your clod headed brother noticed."

Kovu growled at the insult, glaring at Dotty. "Clod headed?"

"Oh come on Kovu, all of us know that as far as feelings go, you're about as observant as a rhino." Dotty snickered. Vitani couldn't help but chuckle as well.

"Yeah, well..." Kovu smiled wryly. "When you're raised to be the 'chosen one'" He motioned in the air dramatically with his paws, "You don't have much time for touchy-feely stuff."

Vitani sighed, turning away. Dotty and Kovu glanced at each other in confusion at the motion. Kovu decided it was time for drastic measures.

He fell on Vitani, moaning in pain as the lioness growled in frustration at the heavy lion laying on her. "Get off of me!" She yelled with a playful grin.

"I can't Vitani, my legs have gone numb from training!" Kovu wailed dramatically. "Oh what shall I do? Help me dear sister." He grinned as Vitani tried to push his much heavier body off of hers. Dotty laughed at the sight, unable to help herself.

"You're not a cub anymore, Kovu!" Vitani struggled. "You can't keep doing this!" She pushed at him with all four of her legs until he was held up off the ground, still laying limp.

"Doing what, Vitani? Are you blaming me for this? How heartless." He pouted.

Vitani growled and jabbed him in the side in the area she knew he was sensitive, making him yelp and jump away with a grin. "That's cheating." He rubbed his side with a laugh.

"It got you up, though." Vitani sighed and sat up, shaking her fur out from the struggle. She looked up to see pride rock behind Kovu and sighed again, resisting the urge to plop back down on the ground.

Kovu looked over his shoulder and let out a noise of frustration. "Okay Vitani, usually I don't push you, but you have to tell me why you're feeling this way. Maybe Dotty and I can help you."

Vitani shook her head. "No, you can't help me with this Kovu. It happened a long time ago."

Kovu looked at her in confusion. "Is it about Nuka?"

"No." Vitani sighed. "Nuka's death was ultimately mother's fault. He wanted to please her so much he pushed himself too far."

Kovu nodded, he had come to the same conclusion long ago, though he still felt guilty for his part in it. "Then what?"

Vitani let out another great sigh and hunched her shoulders in defeat. "Kovu, was there ever a time you wanted to kill mother?"

Dotty and Kovu looked at her in shock. "Um... once." Kovu nodded.

"What did she do to make you want to?" Vitani looked away from them as she spoke.

"When she ambushed Simba and tried to frame me." Kovu lowered his head. "I just wanted to be with the pride, to be with Kiara- but she wouldn't allow it. Even if it destroyed me."

Vitani let out a shuddering breath and nodded. "That's the same thing she did with me, Kovu. Why do you think she was so upset when you betrayed her? It was the second time it had happened, but it happened when you were grown. I was just a cub."

Kovu blinked in confusion. "You never talked about this, Vitani. What happened?"

Dotty looked at Kovu, then at Vitani. "Is that why you changed so suddenly when we were little?"

Vitani nodded. "I was once like you were, Kovu. I was curious and happy. I would wander off and get Nuka in trouble, just as you had. Then I met him." She lifted her head, eyes wet with tears. "He was young too, but a bit older than me. Golden fur, light brown mane. He looked like he was made of sunlight. He had eyes like mine- blue! No one else had blue eyes except us."

Kovu blinked in shock at the description. She couldn't be talking about... "So you met him like I met Kiara?" He knew what happened next... but dreaded hearing about it.

"Mother found out, of course. She always did. One day when we met at the river, she attacked him. His father didn't know he had gone off, so he didn't come to his rescue like he did with Kiara. Mother... tore him apart. Slashed his sides, his eyes, his head, everything." She closed her eyes in pain. "I screamed for her to stop, but she wouldn't. She hit me when I tried stopping her, and I woke up later at the termite mounds, not knowing what happened. He... he died. I never saw him again."

Kovu nodded, unble to help feeling elated inside. He wasn't dead! Kopa was alive, but Vitani didn't know it yet. Kiara had told him not to tell her, and now he knew why. Had Kiara known about this? His smart lioness must have remembered it was Vitani that Kopa had played with... and if Kopa asked about Vitani like he did... he obviously remembered her from when they were cubs. He had sounded so quiet and shy about it, too.

"You're right, there isn't anything I can do to help you, Vitani." Kovu put a paw on her shoulder reassuringly, pulling her toward him in a hug. "But you have to put the past behind you. You need to take care of yourself. Come eat some dinner, and maybe things will get better."

Vitani smiled softly and hugged her brother back, nodding. "Alright, Kovu. Thank you." She stood and started walking back toward pride rock slowly.

Kovu stayed behind and couldn't help but grin happily as he watched her walk away.

"What are you grinning like a hyena about?" Dotty looked at him in confusion.

"Vitani's going to get a big surprise." Kovu chuckled before following after her, practically trotting like a cub.


	5. mending hearts

Vitani ate her meal, unaware of the lion watching her from the other side of the rock outcropping at the base of pride rock.

"I don't think I can do this." Kopa shook head head and started to walk away.

"Oh stop being such a cub!" Janja stopped him, turning him back around. "You wanted to see her again, right?"

"Well yeah, but-"

"Then meet her!" Janja stood on her hind legs to fluff out his mane, brush dust off his nose and face. "Just start with 'hello' and go from there."

"But- but look at me, Janja. I'm not exactly the prettiest lion on the savanah." He growled in frustration.  
"I'll bet you a whole zebra she won't care." Janja grinned as she picked a twig out of his mane and tossed it aside. "There. Now go see her." The hyena pushed the lion forward until he was out from behind the rock.

Kopa sat frozen for a moment as he watched Vitani eat, moving his paw so a pebble moved and made noise. Vitani raised her head, and sighed in frustration. "Kovu, will you just let me ea-" She stopped when she spotted Kopa, her blue eyes going wide with shock.

"Hello?" Kopa raised a paw and waved uneasily. The motion made Janja put a paw over her face as she watched from behind the rock.

Vitani turned and walked toward him, staring with wide eyes as she looked him over mane to tail, and stopping at his eyes. She gasped as she gazed into the one good bright blue eye, tears welling in her eyes. "Kopa?"

Kopa nodded nervously, hoping she wouldn't mind the scars. They usually scared people, made people think he was a ruthless fighter when in fact he really hated fighting. He stood rigidly in front of her, not knowing what to do next.

Vitani smiled as she laughed in disbelief, holding up a paw in front of her. Kopa recognized the movement from when they were cubs and smiled warmly, putting his own much larger paw to press against hers. It was a greeting between them, a sort of acknowledgement of both their differences and their similaritied. The paws matched, but were different sizes and colorings.

"Kopa!" Vitani yelled happily, tackling him to the ground and nuzzling him. He laughed and nuzzled her back, wrapping his arms around her in glee that she obviously didn't mind the scars.

"Vitani." He said in a low purr. "I missed you." He squeezed until she gasped for air and laughed.

"I missed you too." She sighed happily, leaning against him. "What happened? I thought mother killed you."

"I thought she did too." Kopa said softly, "But I woke up a few days later outside the pridelands. She had thrown me in the river. I didn't know how to get back."

Vitani nodded and smiled happily. "I'm so happy you're alive. I thought she had killed the one good thing that ever happened to me."

Kopa's eyes widened at that, looking down at her. "One good thing?" He frowned. "What happened afterward?"

Vitani nuzzled deeper into his mane. "I couldn't stop thinking about what happened. Every time I looked at pride rock, I thought of you. Every time I looked at green grass I thought of you."

Kopa flushed happily at the idea she had remembered him so affectionately. "I thought of you when I saw the big water." He smiled. "Have you seen it? It's massive, water as far as the eye can see, but with strange taste."

Vitani looked up at him and shook her head. "What big water?"

Kopa grinned. "I saw a lot of things in my travels. I'll tell you about them."

Vitani tilted her head in surprise. "Tell me about all of it."

Kopa chuckled and looked over to see Kovu looking at them with a grin. He flushed and sat up, clearing his throat as he tried to keep his paws off the lion's sister in his presence. Kovu only snickered as he walked by, glancing at Vitani. "Told you it would get better."

Vitani's jaw dropped in shock. "You knew about this?!" She yelled angrily, and huffed.

Kopa snickered and rubbed Vitani's head with his paw playfully. "He probably had no idea who I was, Vitani. I'd never met him before."

Vitani grumbled for a minute before looking back up to Kopa. "So tell me about this big water you saw.

* * *

Kovu walked into the cave to see Kiara at the back, still snickering about Vitani yelling at him. He was glad his sister was so happy now. He hadn't seen her this happy since they were cubs. He walked over to Kiara, who yawned from a nap. He nuzzled her before laying beside her, resting his head on her paws and looking up at her.

"Hey sunbeam." He said affectionately, licking her chin. "How was your nap?"

"Good, how is your sister?" She said, leaning her cheek against his forehead drowsily.

"Better now that she and Kopa met again." He chuckled. Kiara lifted her head in curiosity.

"How did that go?" She grinned.

"She tackled him." Kovu laughed. "He started saying things about stuff he's seen. Apparently he's been around a lot."

"That makes sense, he's been gone since he was a cub." Kiara smiled. "Things will be good from now on. Kopa's back, mother and father are thrilled." She sat up and set her nose against his teasingly. "And there hasn't been any trouble for weeks. Things are finally looking like they'll turn around."

"Be careful what you say, Kiara." Kovu licked her cheek as he walked back out the cave. "Sometimes words bring trouble fo their own." He glanced over his shoulder and hopped down pride rock to go see Simba.

 **This is where you, the reader come in! Let me know whether you'd like to see the main antagonist be a white lion (Jua) or a leopard (Kivuli) Let me know in a review which you'd like to see, and how you like the story so far! As soon as I get 5 reviews with an answer, I'll continue and introduce the antagonist!**


End file.
